Joint Custody
by farewellblindgirl
Summary: When Kate sees an old friend on TV, it spurs her to make some changes...
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: Joint Custody

**Summary: **When Kate spots an old friend on TV, she finds its time to move forward...

**Disclaimer: **I invented the letter Q. I tried to trade it in exchange for Castle. My offer was not accepted. Alas.

* * *

Kate dropped the carton of Mu Shu pork onto her dusty coffee table and leaned back into her couch. She'd gotten to her apartment an hour ago, found that her fridge was empty (why did she expect it to be full anyway?) and had ordered from the Chinese place down the street. Half the normal order, of course, because Castle was off doing the famous writer thing. She'd come to hate the nights he had to meet with an editor, do an interview, participate in some promotional event.

She looked around her place. It had been, at one time, her sanctuary, her place to just be her. Now it was four walls and a mortgage payment. She'd spent, maybe, a dozen nights there in the last five months, and even then, this was only the second one where she'd been alone.

She fumbled around in the couch cushions, looking for the remote. She'd rather read, but her books, the ones she was currently reading anyway, were sitting on her nightstand at the loft.

Her nightstand. How odd, and yet comforting, to think of parts of the loft as hers.

She flipped channels idly, hoping that something would catch her attention, but mostly the images and sounds washed over and past her without registering. It was all just white noise, white light, against the boredom. What was she doing here?

Whoa. Wait... was that?

She sat forward, flipping backwards through the last few channels she'd seen, until, there. Yes. On E! - a reality TV show - and an old friend.

She looked at the silly Golden Retriever she hadn't seen in nearly a year. Remembered how happy she'd been to curl up with Royal on the couch. Remembered her weird conversations with Castle about joint custody. How much better it would be, right now, if Royal, or Royal and Castle, were here.?

An idea flashed in her head; one that would have been unheard of any time in the last thirteen years, but now... but now...

Now it was perfect.

* * *

"Kate, not that I'm not up for a little adventure, but maybe you could tell me where we're headed?"

They were walking down the street, holding hands, enjoying the fall air. Castle was absently rubbing his thumb over her knuckles as they walked, and while there were some days where she really wanted to kill him, in small moments like this, she felt happier than she'd ever been before.

Not that she'd let him know that.

"You're lucky, Castle, since we're here," she said, stopping in front of a building with a small sign. He stopped too, looked up.

"Forever Home?"

"It's a no-kill animal shelter."

"I know what Forev ... are you getting a dog?"

"Come on," she said, pulling them up the stairs into the shelter. She registered with the receptionist while Castle wandered off. She walked around, looking at the pictures of the new "families" that the shelter had all over the walls. Happy faces, showing off the cats and dogs that they were taking home. She smiled.

She finally found Castle sitting cross-legged on the floor of the pit, playing with a litter of beagle puppies. One was sitting in his lap, getting her tummy scratched as three others jumped up and down over his legs, licking his face and begging for his attention. Kate leaned against the wall, just watching Castle act the overgrown boy, loving the pure joy on his face. He looked up, spotted her.

"Hey, come in here. These guys are the best."

She stepped over the low wall that kept the puppies in, sat next to him on the floor. Two of the puppies stopped going after Castle, came over and started begging for her attentions. She picked one up, the girl whose tummy Castle had been scratching, and cuddled the little beagle against the side of her face. They both sat and played with the puppies for several minutes.

"Ms. Beckett?"

Kate looked up, saw one of the adoption councilors standing in front of the pit. "Yes?" Kate asked.

"Have you found a puppy you'd like to adopt?"

Kate looked at the little beagle she held in her hands, and then looked over at Castle for confirmation. He nodded.

"Yes, I think we like this little girl right here."

"Excellent. Can you come with me?"

They put down their puppies, reluctantly, and stood up. The councilor turned and walked back down the hall, Castle following her. Kate took one last look at the little beagle she was going to get and then turned to follow Castle down the hall.

Right before leaving the adoption area, a dog caught her eye.

"Excuse me, who is that?"

The councilor looked to where Kate was pointing. "Oh, that's Thomas. He's a sweetheart. He's kind of our mascot."

Thomas looked like a huge brown lab-like mutt with sad wet brown eyes and a small dusting of gray on his muzzle. Kate walked into Thomas' room, and Thomas got up from where he was sleeping and walked over to her. When she bent down to scratch behind his ears, he leaned forward, laying his huge head on her bent knee. She tickled his chest.

"So he's not up for adoption then?"

"Oh, he is... most people want a puppy though, or something smaller. And Thomas has had some bad luck."

"Bad luck?" Castle asked.

"Thomas wasn't treated very well before he came to us. He's very sweet, but shy. We adopted him out twice, but both times...the families thought they were dog people, but it turns out they really weren't. So now he just lives with us."

Castle bent down next to Kate. Thomas lifted his head, turned inwards so that his side was resting in the vee of Kate's legs, nudged his head under Castle's hand, started licking Castle's palm. Castle scratched his ear, leaned down to rest his head against the crown of Thomas' head. Kate scratched Thomas' side, enjoying the frantic wagging of his tail.

"You say he's shy?" Kate asked.

"Well... normally. I guess he likes you two. Anyway, shall we get back to your adoption?"

"Actually..." Kate said, trailing off.

Castle took her hand, gave it a squeeze. "Do it, Kate."

"Actually, can I adopt Thomas instead?"

"Are you sure? He's had two bad experiences... the next adoption needs to be his last."

Kate looked over at Castle, saw the twinkle in his eye. "Yeah, I'm positive," she said.

"Oh, good. Good," the councilor said. "Follow me then."

"We'll see you in a minute, boy."

Thomas barked in reply.

* * *

It doesn't take long to figure out that they aren't getting out of the shelter in a minute. Kate had figured she'd have to sign a paper or two, make a donation or pay a fee, and then that would be that. But when the councilor lead them to a small office, and then pulled out a large folder stuffed with papers, Kate's stomach dropped.

"Okay then," the woman said, "let's get to the interview."

"Interview?" Castle asked.

"Yes sir, Mr ..."

"Castle, Rick Castle."

"Yes, Mr. Castle. We interview all prospective adopters. We need to make sure all of our prospects are properly serious and responsible. Can't have our little guys going to bad homes. So... Ms. Beckett, are you the adopter, or is it both of you?"

"Both of us," Kate said, ignoring the questioning look on Castle's face.

"Um, yeah, both of us," he agreed after a moment.

"Okay, and you two are married?"

"No."

"Hmmm..." the woman said with a disapproving sound, "well how long have you been together then?"

"Four and a half years," Kate said. Again, Castle gave her a look. She tried to send him a message telepathically... follow my lead... follow my lead, she thought. After a second, he seemed to catch on. He turned back to their interviewer, nodded.

"Children?"

"One, yes," Castle said.

"Well, I should warn you. Thomas is very good with children, but... children can occasionally have trouble adapting to a new dog in the house."

Castle laughed. "My daughter is eighteen and off at college. She doesn't live with me. It will be fine."

"Live with you?"

"Live with us," Kate said quickly.

"Yes, okay. Any plans for more kids then?"

Castle choked a little, "What does that..."

Kate jumped in, "Not for a little while, no."

Kate looked over at Castle. For a moment, she was worried that his eyes might pop out if he opened them any wider, but then he softened, gave her a look of pure adoration. Her heart did a little flip.

"Ahem, yes. Well, I am little worried that you might be viewing a dog as practice for having children, will put Thomas aside once you have children."

Both Kate and Castle clammed up, unsure how to respond to that one. "Anyway," Castle said finally, "are those the last of the questions?"

"No, Mr. Castle. We're really just getting started. Okay, next up, what kind of home or apartment do you have? Thomas isn't that energetic, but he needs some space."

"Um," Kate said, "we live in a loft. Two levels. Plenty of room."

Castle looked over at Kate again, but Kate wouldn't meet his eye. "Um, can I use your restroom?" he asked the councilor.

"Oh, yes, of course. We have a lot of questions still to get through," the councilor said. "It's down the hall, third door on the right."

"Thank you," Castle said, standing up. He ran his hand over Kate's shoulder as he left.

"I hope he's not long," the woman said after Castle left, "we really do have a lot to get through. So many questions. Our little angels here are very precious, and so few people make the grade. I don't think I've managed to find a suitable couple or family in weeks. But it's okay, because we have plenty of room, and there are good people like me who can take care of them until they find their forever..."

Kate leaned back in her chair, let the woman's diatribe fade into background noise. Her heart started to sink. She'd only spent five minutes with Thomas, but she was certain that she and Castle would both be heartbroken if they had to leave without him.

Castle returned just as the councilor seemed to be running out of steam. He'd brought someone with him, a tall blonde woman in an expensive dress.

"Ms. Beckett? I'm Ann Neville. I run this shelter. We spoke on the phone yesterday?"

"Yes, Ms. Neville. Pleased to meet you," Kate said, standing and shaking Ann's hand.

Ann turned to the woman on the other side of the desk, "Maggie, why don't you cover reception for a while? I'll finish up here."

"Um, I really think..." Maggie started.

"Maggie..." Ann said in a tone that reminded Kate of Captain Gates.

"Yes ma'am," Maggie said, and left.

"Sorry about that," Ann said. "Maggie has been getting a little ... exuberant... lately in her interviews. And I'm sorry I didn't put two and two together before now, but you're Nikki Heat, aren't you?"

Kate looked over at Castle, who shrugged. "Ann and I know each other from the charity circuit."

"Yes, Rick has made several nice donations in the past. He was quite the prize at our bachelor auction a few years ago, but I can see there won't be a repeat performance of that." Ann looked from Castle to Kate, caught the expression on Kate's face. "Anyway... Thomas is about four years old, so his vaccine and boosters are current, and he's been neutered. He really is a sweetheart. He just wants someone to curl up next to on the couch. You guys will be great with him."

"So we can take him then?" Kate asked.

"Oh, of course, yes. He's yours. Just, if for whatever reason it doesn't work out, please remember to bring him back here. But I don't think that will be a concern. And don't be a stranger, okay, Rick? We'd like to see you at the rubber chicken dinners again."

"Thanks, Ann," Castle said, taking the leash from Ann.

"Come on, let's go get Thomas," Ann said.

When they got out in the hall, Kate whistled. A second later, Thomas came bounding out of his room, ran over to Kate and Castle. They bent down, hugged him. Castle attached the leash to his collar while Ann handed Kate all of Thomas' papers.

Kate, Castle and Thomas walked down the street, Thomas between the two humans.

"Kate?"

"Yeah, Castle."

"I forgot about this while we were in there with the Spanish Inquisition, which I totally didn't expect by the way, but..."

"But?"

"Well, I know what you told Maggie, but..."

"Just spit it out, Castle."

"Where is Thomas going to live, exactly?"

"What, we can't split custody?" she asked. She'd wondered how long it would take to get to this line of questioning. She was pleased that it hadn't taken long at all.

"We could, sure, but didn't you say, with Royal, that that was a bad idea? Constantly moving him back and forth?"

"True. I suppose he'll just live with me then."

"Oh. Okay." She wanted to burst out laughing at his hangdog look, the listlessness in his voice.

"What are you thinking, Rick?"

"It's just, if he's at your place, you'll have to go over there more. Won't be staying over at my place as much."

"Hmmm... I suppose that's true." Come on, Rick, she thought. Get to where we're going.

"Well, you could..."

"I could what?" she asked, trying not to smile. She knew what he was going to ask. Knew what she hoped he'd ask.

"Nevermind."

"Oh, okay... too bad. I'm guessing it was a rather interesting idea."

"I was just thinking... Thomas could live with me. Then you wouldn't have to choose between seeing me and seeing him."

"Yes, of course. But then, in what way would he be my dog?"

"You know, if you lived with me, then he could be our dog..."

"Normally that would be an attractive offer, if you hadn't extended it to Thomas before me."

Thomas looked up at them at the sound of his name, gave Castle a reproachful look.

"Maybe I was extending it to both of you."

"Maybe?"

Castle finally seemed to realize she was teasing him. He stopped, turned towards her. "Kate. Move in with me? Live with me? We could go home together after work, I'll make dinner. Afterwards, you can curl up in the couch, Thomas by your side while you read..."

Kate decided not to point out that, except for Thomas, Castle was describing most of the last five months. Instead she reached into her back pocket and handed him the intent-to-sublet form she'd filed with her building last night. She'd officially be vacating her apartment in 30 days.

"Is this?" Castle asked, looking at the form. "You set me up, didn't you? My goodness you're a crafty minx."

"Come on, Castle," she said, kissing him gently while holding his chin. "Let's go show Thomas his new home."

* * *

_A/N: I started this off as a one-shot, but I had an idea of where I wanted to take it. I may make it longer, if people are interested...  
_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: Still don't own em, of course. Never owned Thomas either, though I'm glad I knew him.

* * *

Kate put down the book she was reading, flipping it spine up on the coffee table. She loved the library at Castle's ... their ... Hampton's house, even if she often found it overwhelming. Five months ago, when she'd agreed to live with Castle, it hadn't quite dawned on her exactly what that meant.

The loft felt like home, what with her art of some of the walls, her desk next to his in the study. Her shoes sat below his in the walk-in closet, and her plates sat beside his in the cupboards. It wasn't his home or hers, it was theirs. But the Hamptons estate, which she'd only been to twice, still felt odd, mostly because she'd never thought of herself as a person who would have a house in the Hamptons (she didn't even want to think about the apartment in Paris or the cabin in Colorado).

Of course, the place would feel more like a home once Castle got back from the city. Alexis' last final was earlier in the afternoon, and he'd driven to Colombia to bring her back for Christmas at the beach house. Kate checked her watch. They wouldn't get home for another few hours.

She was about to get up, make herself a snack, when Thomas came into the room and hopped onto the couch next to her. He headbutted her bicep as he always did, and she lifted her arm up so that she could wrap it around his thick neck. He dropped to his side so that his head was resting on her lap, and her arm came down, absently tickling his chest between his forelegs. He stretched, rubbed the top of his head against her stomach, made the little happy groan that she and Castle had come to think of as Thomas' purr. She scratched her way up his chest to his throat and to the underside of his jaw, when she realized he had something in his mouth.

"Thomas, give," she said, holding out her hand.

Thomas rolled over onto his stomach, sitting up. He opened his jaw, and dropped an object onto her hand. She'd expected a ball, most likely the solid orange and blue rubber ball that he always carried with him.

But it wasn't an orange ball he dropped. It wasn't any sort of ball, but rather a small box. Kate flipped the box open. Inside, there was a Scrabble tile. She removed it, holding it in her fingers as if it were a ring.

"R. Okay Thomas, where did you get this?"

Thomas looked at her, cocked his head to the side.

"Sorry, stupid question."

In response, Thomas leaned forward, licked the inside of her forearm.

Why would Castle put the letter R in a box? Was she meant to find it? Was Thomas? How had the dog found the box? She closed it, looked at the carefully. It seemed perfectly normal, but Thomas was staring at it like... oh. She brought the box to her nose, sniffed. Yep, it smelled like bacon.

Okay, so this was a game. Castle has left a bacon scented box for Thomas to find. That was obviously too weird, even for Castle, to do just once. An idea popped into her head. If there was one box, there were probably others.

"Thomas, look! Look at the box."

Thomas stared at her. Box was obviously not part of his vocabulary.

"Okay. Bacon," she said, and he perked up. Box? No. Bacon? Definite yes. He was half Castle's dog, after all. "Want the bacon? Want the bacon? Go get it," she said, and faked tossing the box out of the room. Thomas barked, foundered off the couch, and ran out of the room. She put the box back in her pocket, followed after him.

Thomas had run down the hall, found his way into the bedroom that Alexis used. She found him there, trying to get his outsized head under the narrow gap under the bed. He moaned and whined, trying to swipe his paw at something. She came over, got on hands and knees next to her dog, and looked to where he was reaching. There was a shoebox in the exact center of the space, too far under the bed for Thomas to reach, but she was able to get a finger on it, pull it out.

Inside the box sat a well worn, definitely used Penguin's edition of 'The Taming of the Shrew' as well as three of the bacon bit treats they'd feed Thomas when he was being good. She grabbed the treats first, gave them to Thomas, who plopped on his haunched next to her and happily munched out of her outstretched hand. She then picked up the book, flipping it open. She hadn't read the play since college. She flipped through it at random, looking for something about why Castle would have hidden the book. It took her a minute to get it.

Every instance of the word Kate had been highlighted.

"R Kate." What did that mean?

That meant nothing, which meant there were more clues. Time to get Thomas going again. She pulled the ring box from her pocket, showed it to the dog, whose ears perked up again. "Bacon? Bacon? Go get it!" she said, again faking a throw out the door. Again, Thomas took off.

She got up, feeling mildly bad that she was tricking her dog, but there was nothing else for it. She needed the help - she certainly couldn't wander the house, sniffing for bacon, and so Castle had obviously intended for Thomas to help. But Thomas, for whatever Retriever genes had appeared in his randomly assembled lineage, had never quite mastered fetch. Sit, Stay, Hell, Play Dead, Feed the Birds - those he was fine with. Fetch? Not so much.

But he could hunt.

An hour later, she sat down on the couch, Thomas flopped next to her. The dog needed a break, and she needed to think. She scratched behind the dog's ear as she looked at the clues she'd assembled on the coffee table.

Two scrabble tiles - R and E.

A stuffed sheep.

A copy of 'Taming of the Shrew' with Kate highlighted.

A box with one M&M candy in it.

A picture of the Virgin Mary.

She looked at the letters. Obviously there were more letters out there, though Thomas hadn't found a clue after the Virgin Mary. But neither ER nor RE made any sense as a word. At least, she didn't think so, since she hoped he wasn't telling her he was in the hospital or replying to her last email (which had been about buying mayonnaise).

The candy was a stumper too. Why only one M&M? Was there something symbolic in only one? Did it represent something? She dumped it out of the box. It was brown, the little M looking up at her, taunting her. There was no clarity there.

She couldn't decide if this game was fun or not.

Yes she could. She was enjoying this. An idea hit her. She collected everything up, took it into the small office Castle kept off the master bedroom. He didn't have a fancy smartboard in this office, but he did have a whiteboard. She had clues, she had a murder board (er, clue board? whatever), she was in business. She grabbed a marker, wrote all of her clues on the board.

As she was looking at the board, Thomas huffed his way into the office, hopped up on Castle's writing desk chair. Thomas was a solid dog, north of 135 lbs, and she watched as his momentum spun him around a few times in circles. He stopped facing away from her, so she reached over and rotated the chair so that the dog faced her.

Thomas repaid the favor by spitting up something on Castle's blotter.

Kate looked down at the object, not wanting to touch it as it was covered in dog effluvia, but saw that it was a fridge magnet in the shape of a question mark. Was it part of the clues, or just something Thomas had randomly eaten earlier? Since Castle didn't seem to own any other kitchen magnets, she decided it had to be a clue. She wiped it off with tissue from the corner of the desk, put it with the rest of the things.

Okay, so the question mark was helpful. Obviously the clues all added up to a question of some form. Some little riddle Castle was asking her.

"Kate, re virgin m&m sheep?" she wrote on the board. That was dumb. She erased it and tried again.

"Kate, Mother of God Candy Wool ER?"

She picked up the book. Obviously, this all was for her, so why did he go to the trouble to call out her name? She flipped through the book again, wondering if there was more to the clue than just "Kate." But none of the other characters, none of the other words appeared highlighted or marked. She flipped backwards, got to the cover page, stopped. There was another word highlighted - part of the author's name - Will. She looked as the ISBN page - Will was highlighted there too. She flipped the book closed. On the cover - she'd missed it the first time, a double underline of the Will of William Shakespeare.

Okay, so add "Will" to the set of clues. Kate & Will - was Castle making some comment about Sorenson? About a nearly four years dead relationship that had cost them their first trip out here, years ago?

That seemed... cruel, and while they occasionally had communications issues, she knew that nothing Castle ever did was cruel. Stupid sometimes, sure, but never malicious.

So this wasn't about Demmings.

Kate and Will? The royal couple? God she hoped not.

She had three names now: Mary, Kate, and Will. She looked at the stuffed sheep. Maybe it was one of those stuffed animals, like a Beanie Baby, that came named. She looked at the label, but other than cleaning instructions and the fact that the sheep was a ewe, she saw nothing on the label that seemed helpful. She put the sheep down.

One M&M. Could it be something else? Maybe actual an M? Maybe he'd gotten tired of Scrabble tiles.

MER. ERM. R ME. Oh. That could be something.

She rewrote her clues out on the board:

Kate, Will R Me Sheep Mary?

R Kate me wool virgin?

Kate, Will Mary SheepR Me?

Oh. Oh God. That couldn't be what he was asking, could it?

She looked over at Thomas, who looked back at her and yawned. Thomas was part of all of this. He was part of the clues, wasn't he? She'd used Thomas as a hint to Castle, a few months ago, that she wanted to move in with him. Could he be using Thomas now for something similar?

Of course he was.

The Sheep was a Ewe.

She rewrote the clues one last time, using the extra R where it obviously now belonged.

Kate, Will Ewe Marry Me?

"Was wondering if you'd get it before I got back," she heard. She turned, found Castle leaning against the doorway. She looked over at him. He was feigning nonchalance, but she could see the tension in his shoulders, around his eyes. He's nervous, she thought, like this might not go as he'd hoped.

Stupid man.

"Thought it would take me longer?" she asked.

"No," he said, standing up. She can see him relax a bit at the sound of her teasing. He walked into the room, not towards her, but towards Thomas. He turned back to her, but tucked Thomas against his side, playing with the dog's ear.

"Actually, I was worried that Thomas would eat some of the clues, like the tiles or the M&M."

"He did eat the magnet, actually. Luckily it didn't sit well. We may need to replace your blotter."

He looked down, saw the stain there, put two and two together. "Oh, yeah. You're probably right."

"So, are you going to ask for real?" she asked, wrapping one arm around his waist, tucking into his free side. The three of them formed a triangle. Castle answered her by reaching down, taking her hand, sliding it along Thomas' head until it rested along his collar. Her finger tripped over a metal ring, different in some way from the one they used to attach his leash. She leaned over, looked down at the engagement ring Castle had attached to the leather band.

"I was figuring that the clues would have you tied up enough you wouldn't notice this," he said, disconnecting

"Lucky man," she said.

"In more ways than I can count. So? Will you marry me? We're a family already, the three of us, four of us, five of us, however you count. We're a family in all the ways that matter. This would just make it..."

"Castle?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up..." she said, leaned in, and kissed him. She could taunt him, make him find her answer through a set of clues, just like she did his question, but she doesn't want that. Her lips left his, trailed small kisses up his jawline, came to rest at his ear. She whispered a quiet yes in his ear, barely above a breath and thrilled at the way his whole body went taunt, and the relaxed.

"But only because Thomas is asking," she said. "Getting a dog to do your dirty work." She shook her head. "Shameful."


End file.
